Jefferson's Classification Scheme for the 1783 Catalog of Books

Jefferson arranged his 1783 Catalog of Books into three sections--History,Philosophy, and Fine Arts--adapted from Francis Bacon's three categories of knowledge: Memory, Reason, and Imagination. Within Jefferson's three main divisions, he subdivided his catalog into 46 chapters.

Jefferson outlined his classification scheme on pages 10, 11, and 12 of the 1783 Catalog of Books.

Below is a list of the chapters and subject categories that Jefferson used in his catalog, with links to the corresponding pages. Occasionally a chapter starts on an odd-numbered page, but continues on the facing page preceding it. For example, Chapter 25, "Commerce," starts on page 153 but continues on page 152. To assist in navigation, directional notes and links have been added to such pages.